 "Cyberfrauds, offences against women & more: The crimes on the rise in India")
Crimes against women have increased in India, with more than four lakh cases being recorded in 2023, according to the latest data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). In another concerning development, the rate of suicides by students rose by around 65 per cent since 2013.
India registered 6.24 million (62.4 lakh) cognisable crimes in 2023, a 7.2 per cent rise from 2022. On average, the country saw a crime every five seconds.
The crime rate per lakh population jumped from 422.2 in 2022 to 448.3 in 2023.
Here’s a look at the recent NCRB data.
Crimes against women
India reported 4.48 lakh cases of crimes against women in 2023, a marginal increase of 0.7 per cent from 4.45 lakh in 2022.
Like previous years, most of these cases fell under the ‘cruelty by husband or relatives’ category, which made up 29.8 per cent of the total crimes against women. In 2022, this category accounted for 31.4 per cent of all such crimes.
“Majority of cases under crime against women under IPC [Indian Penal Code] were registered under ‘Cruelty by Husband or Relatives’ [1,33,676 cases, 29.8 per cent] and ‘Kidnapping and Abduction of Women’ [88,605 cases, 19.8 per cent], followed by ‘Assault on Women with intent to outrage her modesty’ [83,891 cases, 18.71 per cent] and ‘Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO)‘ [66,232 cases, 14.8 per cent],” as per NCRB’s Crime in India 2023 report.
The crime rate per lakh women population was 66.2 in 2023, compared to 66.4 in 2022 and 64.5 in 2021.
As many as 29,670 rape cases were reported in the country in 2023. Of these, 28,821 incidents involved women aged 18 and above, and 849 girls were below 18 years of age.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsAmong states, Rajasthan recorded the highest number of rapes with 5,078 cases, followed by Uttar Pradesh at 3,516 cases and Madhya Pradesh with 2,979 cases.
India witnessed 6,156 cases of dowry deaths in 2023. Abetment to suicide saw 4,825 cases and the insult to modesty category logged 8,823 cases.
Overall, Uttar Pradesh topped the list with crimes against women at 66,381, followed by Maharashtra (47,101), Rajasthan (45,450), West Bengal (34,738) and Madhya Pradesh (32,342).
Delhi reported 13,439 cases of crimes against women, clocking the highest rate in the country at 133.6, much more than the national average of 66.2, as per the NCRB data.
ALSO READ: How crimes against women are on the rise again in India
Murder cases, cybercrimes & more
The number of murder cases has seen a dip of 2.8 per cent, with India registering 27,721 incidents leading to 28,587 deaths in 2023.
In 2022, 28,552 cases of murder, resulting in 29,356 deaths, were reported.
“’Disputes’ [9,209 cases] was the motive in the highest number of murder cases during 2023, followed by ‘Personal Vendetta or Enmity’ [3,458 cases] and ‘Gain’ [1,890 cases],” the NCRB report said.
On an alarming note, crimes against Scheduled Tribes (STs) jumped by 28 per cent from 10,064 cases in 2022 to 12,960 cases in 2023.
Cybercrimes have also significantly increased in the country, seeing 86,420 cases in 2023. This is a 31.2 per cent rise from 65,893 cases registered in 2022, it said.
In 2023, 68.9 per cent, or 59,526 of the total 86,420 cases, of cybercrimes were to defraud citizens, followed by sexual exploitation — 4.9 per cent with 4,199 cases, and extortion, 3.8 per cent with 3,326 cases.
Student suicides a major concern
India has seen a shocking spike in cases of student suicides, climbing by 34 per cent in 2023 compared to 2019.
Over the past 10 years, the number of student suicides rose from 8,423 in 2013 to 13,892 in 2023, a 65 per cent surge.
This growth rate is higher than the overall uptick in suicides during the same period.
Total deaths by suicide in the country increased by 27 per cent over the last decade, from 1.35 lakh in 2013 to 1.71 lakh in 2023. This figure rose by 23 per cent in 2023, compared to 2019, when 1.39 lakh suicides were reported.
Student suicides made up about 8.1 per cent of all suicides in 2023, up from 6.2 per cent a decade ago.
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